Of Fabric and Faith
by CTMfan-13
Summary: Coincidence or Fate? Set during 5.8


A polite double tap on her office door tore Sister Julienne from her thoughts and back to the task at hand as she sat on the sofa in her office going through boxes.

"Enter!"

The door swung open slowly as not one, but two visitors made their way inside.

"Hello, Sister. We just happened to be in the neighborhood and thought we would pop by for a visit. Is this a bad time?"

"Shelagh, do come in. And Miss Angela too, what a lovely surprise!"

Angela, who had been holding tightly to her mother's hand and staring at her feet as she walked, immediately recognized the voice of Sister Julienne looked up from the floor and tore off towards her namesake.

"Sister!"

The two year old toddled over to the nun, crashing into her legs in a hug. Without a moment's hesitation, Sister Julienne plucked the girl from the ground and settled her on her lap.

"You seem to be quite overrun with boxes, Sister! Sister Monica Joan mentioned the motherhouse had sent over some items but surely I didn't think it was this many!" Shelagh said as she closed the door behind her and took stock of the cluttered office.

"Indeed. We've been doing our best to go through the contents, but we don't seem to be making much headway." She raised her hand, pointing to the myriad of wooden cartons strewn about her office.

Angela, quite the nosy little thing, squirmed off Sister Julienne's lap to better examine a box at her height.

"Goodness, the mother house must have taken spring cleaning quite literally this year...and in October. This box seems to be half of the library!" Shelagh exclaimed, looking through a handful of books in the box nearest her. "I remember spending a lot of time in the library at the Mother House while I was on retreat. It seemed as though I would always find some fascinating book I hadn't noticed on previous trips, and I'd end up spending hours poring over the shelves." Shelagh reminisced softly before noticing her daughter.

"Angela, dearest. Leave that box alone, those aren't toys."

"Mumma, look! Princess clothes!" Angela declared, pointing at the large carton she was investigating.

"Princess clothes?" Sister Julienne asked Shelagh.

Smiling, Shelagh walked over towards her daughter as she answered Sister Julienne's questioning look.

"Timothy brought home some children's books from the library last week. Mostly fairytales and princesses in pretty dresses. It's Angela's favorite new nighttime ritual, reading them with her brother. She's taken to calling any pretty dress she sees 'princess clothes'."

Sister Julienne smiled at the thought of Timothy Turner, ever wanting to be seen as a grownup, but also the doting big brother, reading princess stories to his 2 year old sister.

"Look, Mummy!" Angela was grasping a shiny handful of white fabric that looked almost like silk.

"Careful, darling. You don't want to ri-oh!"

"What is it, Shelagh?" Sister Julienne was now standing next to them to see what had grabbed the attention of the Turner women.

"It's...it's my wedding dress." Shelagh whispered, bending down and holding the fabric up to catch the light.

Sister Julienne watched in awe as Shelagh picked up the dress, holding it to her body and gasped lightly as she took in the familiar silk sleeves.

"I haven't seen this in thirteen years, and yet I feel as though it was yesterday. I remember the night before my vows, Mother Jesu told me that only one other sister had worn it, and she had spent hours undoing the stitches because it wasn't seen as modest enough."

"Princess dress!" Angela shrilled pointing at her mother.

"I can't believe the mother house is getting rid of all these." Shelagh said softly, holding the dress away from herself and not looking at Sister Julienne. "Although, now that they've shied away from the tradition, I suppose they don't really have need of them anymore. Sister, is your dress in here?"

"Yes."

"Really?" Shelagh asked excitedly. "Which one is it?" Shelagh placed the dress over her arm and started sifting through the box. Pulling out each dress individually, she watched as Julienne shook her head to each of them.

"Actually, Shelagh...this one was mine." Sister Julienne said softly, picking up the dress from Shelagh's arm and running her hand over the soft material.

The two women shared a glance and smiled at one another in mutual understanding, as though their paths had been meant to cross in this way from the beginning.

Holding the dress out at the sleeves, Julienne continued. "There was silver embroidery all along here, and it took me from Compline to Lauds to unpick the entire thing. I couldn't imagine not wearing this dress, even though it needed all that work."

Shelagh stared at the dress and smiled at her mentor. "I felt beautiful wearing this dress. I probably shouldn't have, of course, I was becoming a nun and casting aside such feelings of vanity...but I did."

"I'm sure you looked lovely, Sister." Julienne's eyes widened as she realized her mistake. "I'm sorry, I meant Shelagh."

"It's alright, Sister. Old habits..."

"Indeed." 

"You know, after our original wedding plans were...postponed. I went back to the dress shop to find another dress."

"I remember you saying your dress was knee length. But then on your wedding day, you looked more beautiful than I'd imagined."

Shelagh smiled, tears in the corners of her eyes.

"When I married Patrick, I wanted to look as beautiful as he makes me feel." Her cheeks blushed as she continued. "As beautiful as I felt in this dress."

Sister Julienne smiled, reaching out to clasp Shelagh's hand. "And you did."

They fell into a companionable silence then, both not knowing what to say, but also knowing that words weren't necessary.


End file.
